It's Never as it Seems
by Dogtooth3030
Summary: The world knew the name Uchiha. It's a name that once spelled power and prosperity, a name that the entire world knew and feared for many reasons. Once. Oh, everyone knows the name Uchiha, but have they heard the saying 'look underneath the underneath?


**Hey, guys! So, this is my new story! It's a Non-Massacre with a twist. Just read it, it's not that bad, I don't think. Oh, and I have something really important to say.**

**IMPORTIANT! PLEASE READ!**

***ahem* So, I have noticed a lot of people have sent reviews that are like 'you suck, y do u even write?'. And I just wanted to say, SHUT UP, YOU FAGGOT! The point of reviews is for the reader to give advice to the writer on how to make his/her story better. Not to wear at their self-esteem by belittling them. If you don't like their story, tell them why. Was the plot terrible, or was it just poorly written? Did the characters have no personality, or an unreasonable one? It doesn't help anyone if you simply insult them. And it's rude. Just because you can't see someone doesn't mean that they aren't 'real' and don't have feelings like you. All I'm asking is please try to be respectful to your fellow writers and readers. There is no reason to be rude to them.**

**Thank you for listening (reading) what I have to say (type)! Oh, and If you agree, then copy and paste this onto your next chapter like mine; all I ask is that you mention that I wrote it. It really makes me sick when I see someone dissing someone else's hard work and they don't even tell them how to make it better or what the problem is! Anyway, thank you and have a nice day!**

**Dogtooth**

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><p>Chapter 1: Old Habits<p>

The familiar sound of the alarm clock awoke Sakura from her dreamless slumber. The annoying sound was soon eradicated with a well-placed fist from an irritated kunoichi. The purple haired girl sat up and after making sure no one else was in her little apartment, she released her jutsu. She liked to be looking at herself when she got ready for the day in the morning.

With a poof and a cloud of smoke, it soon revealed a _pink_ haired kunoichi that was sitting in the bed. Sakura stood up and, with a stretch and a quiet yawn, made her way to the kitchen where her morning coffee awaited. She continued moving at her snail's pace, content with knowing that nothing special was going on that day – until she remembered.

"Oh, my kami," she gasped, her usual morning grogginess nowhere to be found now, "It's today!"

Today is the day that Haruno Sakura, ANBU of 17, enters the Chunin Exams with her Genin teammates. Again.

An explanation is in order.

Nakamura Risake – a.k.a. Haruno Sakura – is currently a Genin on Team 7, which consists of Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Jonin leader Hatake Kakashi.

No one on Team 7 knows of her secret identity, which would ruin everything.

After all, Haruno Sakura is supposed to be dead, along with teammate Uchiha Shisui, the latter committing suicide and the former killed by Akatsuki member Hoshigaki Kisame – a.k.a. Shisui.

What the world knew what happened was that the Uchiha prodigy killed his entire clan except his little brother, and then fled to join the criminal organization called Akatsuki. He killed his cousin and best friend, Uchiha Shisui, to obtain the Mangekyou Sharingan and made it look like a suicide. When Haruno Sakura left alone in pursuit of him, his Akatsuki teammate, Hoshigaki Kisame, killed her and disposed of the body. It is suspected that another Akatsuki member, Zetsu, disposed of the body. It is known that he is a cannibal and she was never found.

What actually happened was much more complicated. Firstly, Itachi was ordered by the Elders and Danzo to kill his entire clan – including his little brother whom he loved with all his heart. But that's old news.

What no one knows, not even the elders, only the Hokage, is that the Uchiha clan is still alive.

The entire Sharingan using clan had placed a massive genjutsu on the Uchiha district and, therefore, fooling an entire village. The plan was to get the entire clan into hiding until a certain issue involving their – including the whole blissfully ignorant village's – safety was assured from unknown sources. This source was discovered to be Orochimaru with some associates of his. This involved an undercover mission to break apart the criminal organization named Akatsuki from the inside. With the Uchiha's safety threatened and two openings in the Akatsuki, it was obvious. Send Itachi and Shisui in as an undercover while making appear as though the whole clan was killed. While it was plain that Shisui would never betray his clan, Itachi wasn't as clear. So, he was the perfect choice for the 'murderer' while Shisui was 'his first victim'. The scene of almost arresting Itachi was played out in case anyone not Uchiha had happened to be close by and so they could see Itachi's 'waning loyalty' and make the massacre seem more believable. The only problem was Sasuke. His coming home late was a fluke and, due to time, the clan was forced to leave him behind under the protection of the Hokage.

Sakura, who was going to go with the Uchiha's and keep an eye on them, was instead assigned an alter ego to keep an eye on Sasuke instead. She would have preferred to watch over him as herself, but instead she had to be an annoying little girl who wore bright dresses and turned into a pile of love sick mush whenever the raven haired boy came near.

Oh, she knew how to act the part; being the teammate of two handsome Uchiha males made one very privy to how fan girls acted around them. After all, she had been the one to scare them away whenever they became too noisy or too clingy – although sometimes she left them to suffer when the need arose. That did not mean that she particularly liked her mission of acting like one, even if it was to watch her teammate's little brother/cousin.

The pink haired kunoichi sighed lightly at the memories. She liked the little chicken-ass head better when he was a kid waiting at the door for his big brother to get home. Now he was as stoic as is father, wanting nothing more than to kill the man responsible for saving his clan. Not that he knows that, of course. He knows only what the world knows.

For now, at least.

When Sakura heard that her original Team 13 teammates had done all they could with Akatsuki and that they were too close to being uncovered, and were returning back to the village, she had stared at the Hokage in disbelief. Then she ran up and hugged him, gasping out thank you's and oh, my kami's before she realized she was still hugging him and had quickly let go. The Saindame had, predictably, brushed it off; smiling at her masked face, amused by the ANBU clad kunoichi.

And today was the day she and her Team 7 teammates entered the Chunin Exams. They were terribly excited, even if Sasuke hid it more than Naruto. She was not. Although she was eager to see Ibiki and Anko again, as she was sure they were going to be doing the beginning parts of the Chunin Exam like they always did. She always did get a kick out of watching the Genin's terrified faces when they saw Ibiki for the first time.

Not wanting to be late, she quickly drank her coffee, burning herself in the process, before running to her bathroom to take a quick shower. After toweling off, she picked out her normal outfit that she wears as Risake. A bright red dress with white trim and dark green shorts. The absolute worst colors for a ninja to wear, well almost. Naruto had her beat with his bright orange jumpsuit.

While she was getting ready for the day, Sakura couldn't help but remember times with Team 13. Her team. She was ecstatic that they were coming home, but with that came worries. How was the village going to react to this news? How was Sasuke going to react to seeing his brother and being told the truth? Will the village even be told the truth? Or will the Hokage put Itachi and Shisui in hiding within the village? Or, even worse, send them to the Uchiha clan, far away in Snow. She didn't think she could take it if they came back only to leave again. Would she still have to continue her mission as Risake?

The pink haired kunoichi was brought out of her musings by someone with a familiar chakra signature banging very loudly on her door and an equally loud voice yelling and most likely waking her civilian neighbors.

"Risake-chan! Are you ok? I was worried about you when Kakashi-sensei arrived before you did! Believe it!"

If Sakura was being Sakura, she would have been touched that Naruto had ran all the way over to her apartment just to make sure she was alright. But she wasn't Sakura right now. She was Nakamura Risake. So she did what she always did when Naruto tried to help her.

"Naruto, you big idiot! Stop killing my hearing, I'm fine!"

She _swore _she could hear Sasuke's eyes roll at the gainsay statement that she meant for it to be. Quickly walking to the door, after replacing the special genjutsu back on herself, she opened the door to show Naruto standing there, a worried look on his face. Sasuke was behind him, hands in his pockets and looking away, not even caring. She pretended not to notice Kakashi standing to the right of them both while she gasped, exclaiming in a love-struck tone, "Oh, Sasuke-kun, you came to make sure I was ok! That means you really care!"

"Hn," Sasuke replied with the generic Uchiha grunt. It made her want to punch him every time he said it. "I was dragged here by the dobe and Kakashi-sensei."

She nodded, not really listening to what he was saying exactly before she chirped happily, "Ok, then, let's go!"

All three males turned and jumped onto the roof across the street, running in the direction of the Chunin Exams. As Sakura was running along behind them, she couldn't help but think of Naruto.

When she, Itachi, and Shisui had been in ANBU (technically, now they weren't, as she and Shisui were 'dead' and Itachi a missing nin), the little blond had always stayed near the ANBU Headquarters, as most people don't go there. At first, nearly everyone had protested vehemently against this, but the Hokage and a few ANBU had overruled their arguments, saying that he was just a little boy and not the Kyuubi. Itachi and Shisui had agreed with the Hokage.

Sakura did not.

In fact, if she had the chance, she would have killed him in a second.

After all, it was the Kyuubi attack that killed her father and lead to the eventual death of the civilian mother and, consequently, her unborn sibling.

Her father, Junichi, was a newly made Jonin, proud to serve his village to the best of his abilities. He loved his wife and child, soon to e children, and always tried to give them the best he could. His death had destroyed her mother, Risako, mentally; she lost all of her will to live. She stopped eating and Sakura had to force her to eat and drink, sometimes by hand feeding her. Whenever she was sent on a mission was the worst. She always came back to their little apartment to find her having eaten nothing at all and at Death's door. One day, she came back with Itachi and Shisui in tow, only to find Risako hanging from the balcony by her neck, a suicide note on the table with a scroll that belonged to her husband that had been passed down for many generations of shinobi from the Haruno line.

When she found out that Naruto was the demon fox container, she had hated him with all her heart. And then when her teammates, all she had left, had defended the fox, she had left the Team 13 for a while. Eventually, after they explained to a more rational and even headed Sakura that he was just a child and showed her what he went through every day, she re-joined them and the three of them became closer than ever before. But, try as she might, she still hated Naruto. She just wouldn't kill him.

Now, four years later, she had seen the adolescent Naruto really was. She saw his persistence, his courage, his sense of justice. She had realized that he wasn't a fox, he was a child. A child who didn't even know why people hated him, although she suspected that might have changed. The pink haired kunoichi had stopped hating him, but it would take more before she could forgive him and begin to think of him as a friend.

"Risake, are you ok? You've been staring into space since we stopped."

Sakura jerked as of shocked and whirled around to face Naruto whose arm was halfway extended to reach out to her in worry.

Even Kakashi noticed that she wasn't acting like herself today, "Are you sure you're ok, Risake? You do seem really out of it today."

"I'm fine," knowing that they wouldn't take that for an answer, she racked her brain for an excuse. "I just, umm. . . I'm just worried about the Chunin Exams! Yeah, that's it, I'm just a little nervous about it, that's all," she waved her arms in a calming gesture, but was stopped by Sasuke's cold voice.

"Hn, you're annoying. Stupid, weak girl."

Sakura nearly jumped him. She had always hated it when people told her she was weak, and she had always proved them wrong every single time. Except for now, when she wasn't Sakura. She was Risake. Well, except for her little moment.

"You ass! I am not weak!" She quickly shut her mouth after she yelled this, one word running through her mind, _Crap!_

_**Smooth, asshole.**_

_Shut up!_

Now all three of them were looking at her with varied looks of surprise. But as the shock of breaking such a big rule for an undercover mission wore off, she found herself realizing that she didn't care. She just didn't really care anymore. Her teammates were coming home soon! And she could probably wean Risake off of Sasuke a bit now. She was on his team so she didn't have to act as stalker-ish. Besides, she was getting sick of acting like a fool in front of a boy who was five years her junior. It was degrading, even if she and the Hokage were the only people who knew.

So she started walking into the building alone, with the males watching her with looks of confusion and suspicion on all three. Except Naruto. He was just confused. Poor guy.

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><p><strong>Location: Somewhere near the Land of Fire's border<strong>

"Come _on_, Itachi! Hurry up! I want to get back as soon as possible and see Sakura-chan!"

Itachi sighed as Shisui's altered voice sounded throughout the forest they were currently packing up the remains of camp from. He completely understood his best friend's impatience; the black haired shinobi wanted to get home as fast as possible as well. He, too, missed their only female teammate. Only, they were on the run from Akatsuki, so that meant that they had to cover up their tracks as cleanly as possible so they couldn't be detected. They picked a time to run when the strange plant man, Zetsu, was away on a week-long mission in Kumo. The only person who could track them quickly was Deidara, and he might not even try to. He hated Itachi.

So, while the Uchiha heir was being 'a good boy', as Tobi would say, Shisui, or Kisame, was simply standing there, watching his teammate doing all the grunt work while he complained about 'missing my Sakura-chan' and flicking rocks found on the forest floor at his cousin's back in boredom. Itachi couldn't wait until they were back in Konoha, with Sakura, where she could punch him for being annoying and getting on her nerves and Shisui would stay away from her for about an hour after that. It was always the most peaceful hour of that day. And his favorite, as he got to be alone with his pink haired teammate.

"Hurry _up_! You're so slow!"

"If I am so slow," the younger Uchiha hissed out, barely hanging onto his last thread of patience, "then why don't you do it?"

Shisui paused. He really didn't expect Itachi to ask him that. To be honest, he would be too distracted to properly cover their tracks. He was too caught up in his excitement in seeing Sakura-chan again. His cousin knew this as well, so why was he asking him? Oh, right. Rhetorical. He was making fun of him. Maybe? No, he is. Wait a minute!

"Hey! You have no right to insult me, little cousin! You should treat me with respect, as I am your elder!" the curly haired Uchiha – currently a blue skinned, blue haired, overgrown shark that took too long to kill, in his opinion – yelled angrily.

The younger Uchiha, wisely, ignored him and stood up again, careful not to disturb his work. Then, without another word, he turned and leapt into the trees and began running at full speed toward the village, leaving Shisui to stand there for a few seconds before he realized that Itachi had left without him and, with a string of explicative not fit to be on printed paper, or in this case, typed, unless you plan on printing it, followed Itachi, growling about how he never gets any respect from anyone. But he really didn't mind, he knew he deserved it. He just liked to complain about it for the attention. Not that he got any from the stoic Uchiha in front of him. But, as everybody knows, old habits are hard to break. Like his.

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><p><strong>I'm so sorry for the short chapter, guys! I promise that the next chapter will be longer!<strong>

**R&R**

***~The Vixen~***

***EDIT* Hey, this is a shout out to my first reviewer, Lin (I think). Well, Lin, there are different ways that an authors can open a story. And, it wouldn't matter if I revealed all this now. If I didn't then everyone would be very confused with the Itachi and Shisui/Kisame scene. I've read many stories in which the writer had not explained anything untill a long while after that, and by then I really didn't want to read it because it was so confusing in the beginning. And besides. I find it funny hearing (reading) her true thougths when she's supposed to be a love sick little girl. The building tension idea is a really good one, one many writers have used in the past. But it only works for some stories. I do really appreciate the review of you telling me what I didn't do. And I admit that I have a problem with keeping things under wraps (all the time I want to tell people all the little tricks that's gonna be in the story by adding little hints, but I manage to stop my fingers before they can type) so I didn't think that I could keep this unknown for long without completely messing with the plot that I had developed in my head. I really hope that you continue to read as I continue to write. Oh, and I would have sent this directly to you, but it had no link thingy majigy (. . . don't even mention the spelling to me). Anyway, please have a nice day, Lin!**

***~The Vixen~***


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